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PAST AND PRESENT OF THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD AND SANGAMON COUNTY ILLINOIS
By Joseph Wallace, M. A.
of the Springfield Bar
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, IL
1904



PHILIP BARTON WARREN - Philip Barton Warren was born at Springfield, Illinois, October 5, 1870. His father, Phil Warren came of the old Virginia stock, which pausing for a generation in Kentucky early settled central and southern Illinois. His grandfather Major William Barton Warren, was born in Georgetown, Kentucky in 1802, and moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1835. He was the confidential friend and active lieutenant of Governor Ford in the Mormon troubles and is mentioned with special praise in Ford's History of Illinois. During the war with Mexico he was major of the Fourth Illinois Infantry of which he became lieutenant colonel and colonel. He was also governor of the state of Saltillo after the battle of Buena Vista and at the close of the war was presented by the state of Illinois with a sword in recognition of his gallantry and services. He was every way a distinguished man and enjoyed in the highest degree the confidence and friendship of his great contemporaries Lincoln, Douglas and Yates. His mother's maiden name Cordelia Birchall. She was a daughter of Caleb Birchall, who came to Springfield from Philadelphia in 1834 and engaged successfully in the printing and bookbinding trade. His father, Phil Warren, Esq. is one of the best known and most popular citizens of Springfield a gentleman farmer of the old school held in wide esteem.

Mr. Warren began his education in the public schools of Springfield where he continued until his graduation frm the high school with the class of 1888. For the next eighteen months he studied law in the Illinois State Law Library under the direction of Hon. E. S. Smith then assistant attorney general of the state. During this time Mr. Warren also performed the duties of librarian. After spending another year in a law office he took a course in the Harvard Law School. In August, 1892 he was admitted to the bar of Illinois.

He began practice at once in Springfield. After a year he went into the law office of Colonel Bluford Wilson. The business in this office was chiefly corporation law, where in addition to a general practice, the supervision of the legal affairs of several railways was conducted. Mr. Warren soon evinced an aptitude for this kind of work and in 1894 was made assistant general solicitor of these companies. In 1895 he formed a partnership with Colonel Wilson, which continued under the firm name of Wilson & Warren until March, 1904, when Mr. Henry L. Child, a graduate of the Law School of Michigan University was taken into the firm.

Colonel Wilson having practically retired from active practice, Mr. Warren is now in almost entire charge of the business of the firm, which includes an active general practice and the supervision of the legal affairs of the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis, the Litchfield & Madison Railways and the public utility corporations, gas, electric light, heating and street railway of Springfield, in all of which fields Mr. Warren has displayed remarkable aptitude and ability of a high order. He is a young man of great industry systematic and orderly in his methods joined to natural aptness for the law. It is conceded that he is blessed with a strong legal mind. He is thoroughly devoted to his profession, in which he has already won for himself enviable rank and position. He is distinguished for lucidity of statement and for close firm grasp on the facts and law of his cases. Heenjoys in a high degree not only the esteem of his associates but also the respect and confidence of the courts.

On the 1st of November, 1894, Mr. Warren was united in marriage with Miss Jessie Blanche Wilson, the daughter of his partner Colonel Wilson. Two children - a son, Philip Wilson Warren. and a daughter, Alice Katherine Warren - have blessed this union.

Mr. Warren, although a Democrat by inheritance, has been too busy for secret or political societies, but is an active member of the Sangamo and Springfield Golf Clubs. Withal he is essentially domestic in his tastes and finds his greatest happiness in his little home circle. He not a member of any church. His own people are Presbyterians but his wife is a member of Christ Episcopal church of Springfield.



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